Jamaica Day 6

Adventured on January 10, 2012

Today we were scheduled to take a scuba course that began at 8:30 so we rose early got some breakfast and headed to the scuba shack where we were given the disappointing news that the class was canceled because of the high winds. Bobby was pretty bummed out by this news and we were faced with the age old question of “What now?” Lay out by the pool sounded like a great idea to me! But Bobby wanted to be active so he suggested that we participate in a few of the fitness activities that are offered daily. So, we started our morning off by doing one of the most perilous activities in Jamaica… We crossed the street! In spite of the green light and crosswalk we had, we still sprinted as if our lives depended on it! The driving here is insane! Why, you might be asking, did we feel the need to cross the street?!? Well, located on the other side of the road are the resorts tennis courts! Where, at 9:30 a.m., a beginners tennis lesson would be taking place!

We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the only ones there and therefore had a private lesson with Collin the resorts tennis pro. Now, for those of you who know Bobby well you know that games involving balls and hand eye coordination are not something he excels at… Tennis turned out to be no different! We learned the basics of the forehand, backhand, volley, serve, and the overhead smash. As we struggled our way through the lesson Collin became infamous for continually saying to Bobby (in his lovely Jamaican accent), “Look at the ball. Look at it!” Bobby insisted after the lesson that he had, indeed, been looking at the ball. Collin didn’t seem to believe him because of his many complete misses, continually hitting the frame of the racket, and generally lobbing it completely outside of the courts. Collin was a tough nut to crack with his serious, down to business, and overly critical manner. At one point I hollered out, “This is hard!” Collin responded by saying, “This is not hard, if you do what I am telling you to do this is actually quite easy!” In the end though we had him laughing and joking with us! He even said that we had both improved and he felt we had learned a lot! He encouraged us to come back the next day, sadly we have a time conflict with another activity already scheduled and won’t be able to.

Our tennis lesson had made us extremely hot and sweaty, being off the beach where it wasn’t nearly as breezy and in full sun for most of the lesson, we were ready for a dip in the freezing waters of the swimming pool! It was most refreshing!

When we originally booked this trip we were told that we would be given a $300 resort credit to use. We had been discussing over the last several days what we should do with the money and had finally decided that a couples massage would be perfect. We made our way to the Oasis Spa at the front of the resort campus and inquired as to how we go about using our resort credit. They sent us to the guest service desk in the main lobby. There, we had to show proof of our original reservation and she had to call Couples main office to verify that we indeed did have the credit. We found it a little strange that they make it that difficult to use your resort credit, but were pleased in the end when it had all worked out! We trekked back to the spa and made reservations for the massage for the following day.

After lunch and a nap we attended the afternoon yoga class. Once again we found ourselves to be the only couple interested and we therefore given a private yoga class that the instructor, Cyndy, catered to our rock climbing habits. Neither of us have taken a yoga class before and found it quite relaxing and found ourselves walking straighter than we have in a long time! Bobby was rather surprised at his level of flexibility, as were Cyndy and I! He turned out to be quite good at yoga! Cyndy was a sweet retired school teacher from Saskatchewan Canada who, with her husband, spends all winter (20 weeks) in Jamaica! They travel from resort to resort where she teaches classes!

Ice cream cones, showers, and some down time followed yoga until the second big theme night of the week here at the resort! Tonight was the beach party where a grand buffet of Jamaican dishes was set up along with lots of tables and chairs.

Following dinner there was a cultural showcase where we heard a Jamaican steal drum band, saw African and Jamaican dances, an impressive limbo display, a chair balancer, and a fire spinner.

It was very entertaining and a must see for anybody at the resort! They asked for help from the audience several times and Bobby soon found himself doing the Limbo! They only did two rounds and Bobby did very well and had a blast! During dinner, we found ourselves sitting next to a couple from Minneapolis who had been married on Saturday and had just arrived to kick off their weeklong honeymoon! Craziest of all was that the woman and I knew some of the same people and Bobby and the man both work at Best Buy only a few dozen feet apart but had never met before! It’s a crazy small world! Overall, despite the early morning disappointment of no scuba diving we had a marvelous day and are now looking forward to our last day at the resort tomorrow before our flight home on Wednesday.

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About the author

Maura Marko
I am the youngest of six daughters and spent my childhood vacations camping in the beautiful State Parks of MN. In 2009 I married my best friend, Bobby Marko. We have embarked on numerous adventures along with our Golden Retriever, Latigo, our son, Jack (born 7/26/2014) and our daughter, Rowan (born 10/25/2016). When not adventuring in the great outdoors I spend my time as a stay at home mom and volunteer. I am a Branch Lead for the Twin Cities Hike it Baby branch. My favorite pastimes include dog training, eating chocolate, reading mysteries and crappy romance novels, and creating paper crafts, my passion lies in writing.